If only I knew
by Fanpireish
Summary: Ok so it's jashley and it's a photo essay for school! Please give your honest feedback, should I continue t his story?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N this is for a core class in school, but I wanted to share :)**

Sleeping. That's what I was. On a plane to my hometown in Midland Texas population: who cares? I had made it big time on Wall Street, earning $1,000,000 a year. Now I was having flashbacks. I tried to remember what they were of… Childhood I decided. I remember the woman I was sure I would marry, Ashley Rosenburgh. Every line of her tanned face, the wrinkles in her nose, and the creases from her smile, her blue eyes and dark, long hair, her short body standing 5 foot 4 inches next to mine, which stood 6 foot 3 inches. The way she would laugh when she was happy, or pull my honey blonde hair when she was mad. Aww man, I'm falling for her again. I knew where I had to go. As soon as the plane landed in Austin I got in a cab and had them drive to the outskirts. My car was sitting there, like it was 10 years ago. Whoa, can't believe no one took it I thought. I drove to the tree, Like a racehorse rides to the finish line, winning it the Kentucky derby. I looked at the tall, thin Oak tree which me and Ashley had claimed ours when we were 10. I heard the rustling of dry grass, someone was approaching, the horses were long gone out of this field. "Jackson?" A familiar voice asked. I sighed in relief as I knew who the voice belonged to, "Aunt Elma." Then another voice said, "Hey! Don't forget me mister!" I chuckled "and Ashley, never forget Ashley." I picked them both up at the same time, pulling them into bear hugs. "Can'." They both said. I laughed and put them down, "man, it's been so long!" Aunt Elma sighed, "You missed the funeral." "W-what?" I was crushed, I may have not liked the woman who birthed me, but she was still my mother. "Come on, we'll let you stay tonight and a few days, relatives want to see you." Later that night after all of the sobbing aunts and uncles went home, and it was only Aunt Elma, Ashley and I, I went to ask my aunt something, "Auntie why does Ashley stay with you?" I had only known my best friend as independent. "Times change Jackson, her daddy died, she had nowhere to go. I couldn't tell her no." "Why wasn't I told that her dad died?!" Ashley's dad was like a father to me, my father wasn't in the picture. Momma always said he ran away with his liquor and gun, so I learned all of my 'manliness' as Ashley called it, from Mr. Rosenburgh. "You were informed! You go to New York make something big of yourself, then you don't have time for anything here, think you can ditch us all, that's NOT how your mother raised you!" I thought about the information. I was never informed! "Did I answer the phone?" I asked her "No, an assistant did." Aunt Elma's voice was acidic. Damn it, I was never told. I had not been known to swear, only a 'damn' here or there but that was it. My momma spoke words that would make any man cower. I made a mental note to fire the assistant who so rudely 'forgot' to tell me about this death. "I'm sorry, Elma. I honestly didn't know." Crash. "Oops!" A voice called from the hallway. I went to see the matter and saw Ashley standing by the spot where water soaked the carpet from one of the many bowls lining the hallways full of a strange red liquid and floating rose heads. I had never seen these bowls or their contents before yesterday, though Ashley reminded me of a time I drank the liquid filling the bowls when we were younger and foolish. I chuckled, "what happened?" "Accident prone… Remember?" I hated when anyone I cared about said bad things about themselves. "Awww Ashley, you aren't _that _bad." I got a bored look from her "Haha very funny." I laughed at the thought of the time when we were younger and she hit me in the head with a baseball bat. "It was only an accident." She had lied to my mother as we were driving to the emergency room. I teased her about the incident often and she would always say, "but you have to admit, I had a pretty good swing." That part I couldn't deny, Ashley was a wonderful baseball player and even went out for baseball on the boys team because the girls weren't competitive enough for her. That was fine with me. I had never been into the baseball thing. Always football and swimming. Ashley teased me about that as often as I teased her about being on the all-boys baseball team. The next day I woke up early and packed my bags. I left for Austin at 5 a.m. I arrived at the airport at 7 a.m. and flew back to New York. I went into the office at 11 a.m. and began working. Like I promised to myself, I fired the assistant who hadn't told me about the death. I was sitting in the conference room waiting for everyone else to arrive when I got a call. I picked up my phone, "hello?" The voice on the other end was female and around

20ish. "Hello, Mr. Rathbone?" Uhm, this is weird. "This is he." "Oh hello, My name is Cynthia Tomberlane from the Houston International Airport." Ok… So why was this lady calling me from Houston? "Yes?" "It seems that some of your baggage got misplaced and ended up here in Houston." Well that explains a lot. "Alright, have it shipped to New York please." Just then I saw a flash of light, not sure what to think of it, I closed my eyes to block out the light, and my eyelids fell heavy with sleep instantly…

What the heck? A second ago I was in my conference room all good and stuff and now I'm lying under a tree. The feeling of being a complete stranger was taking in, though I knew this place, I knew it well. The sun danced across my skin as the honey colored leaves of the tree above matched my hair. And then there was a girl, standing out in the middle of the field, absolutely still, beautiful girl. Her hair was brunette and her frame was about 100 pounds even. She was very skinny and was thinking. The plaid tank-top made her look even more beautiful in the sunlight. She turned around and smiled when she saw me, so obviously I was visible. She started running toward me and I held my arms out to receive the hug she was about to give, but she passed me, leaving me heartbroken. I turned to watch the angel as she danced into the arms of another man, who I recognized as myself at a younger age. I recognized the blue eyed angel as Ashley and smiled at the sudden memory of what _could have_ been. Snapping out of the beautiful memory, I looked up to see the grey ceiling of my office and knew I had to go back. Ashley was single as was I, and I needed her to be with me, to love me as much as I loved her. I practically ran out of the office and 20 blocks to the airport. I booked the next flight to Austin, which very conveniently, was boarding.

XxX

When I arrived in Austin, I took a bus to Odessa, which passed Midland because it ran to Odessa, not Midland. From there I had a cab drive me 25 miles to the very outskirts of Midland, to my mother's house. I arrived suddenly, so my aunt was surprised, but let me in. Like my dream, Ashley was in the field that the tree was in, however in my dream she was facing the house, blue paint chipping, and here she was facing the tree. I went out to the porch, and the screen door hit the wall loudly, causing the birds on the telephone wire to fly off chirping. Ashley turned around and smiled, like she had in my dream, and started running the 1,000 yards separating us. The big difference between real life and my dream, is that I know that in real life she was running to me, not a younger me, and I held my arms out ready for her embrace, but it never came. She stopped just feet from the steps, looking up at me, and I put my arms down. I saw her face turning a pale pink, as if she would cry, which is what she did. "You came back." She said through her tears and cracking voice. I had tried talking while crying before and I knew how if pained your throat. The tight feeling in your throat like you're about to choke, the soreness it causes you when you are rasping out words in a pattern that makes you sound like a fool. I hugged her and she fell limp in my arms. "How could I stay away?" She stumbled backward, into the lawn, looking at me. We stood like that, staring at each other, for what seemed like hours, until the sun hit the clouds, making a spectacular show of illusion as it vanished behind the opaque object. "What do you mean when you say 'how could I stay away?'" She broke the silence finally, releasing a pressure in my stomach that I had felt, rejection. Knowing that she had on her poker face before, hiding all emotion. She now showed a love filled face with eyes that looked genuine, kind. I smiled and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head as if to answer all of her questions. She hugged me and tilted her hair upward, stood on her tippy toes and kissed me on the mouth. I kissed her back.

XxX

5 months later seemed like nothing but a few days. In that time I had joined a firm of the office down in Austin, to be successful lose to my fiancée, Ashley, whom I had proposed to 2 months ago. Announcing the engagement to all of my family and friends was hard for Ashley, who didn't know any of the New York friends. I held her hand through all of it while she greeted them with a look of self-loathing, which I told her I didn't approve of, but asked her why, to which she responded "I'm not good compared to them, they can buy nice things while I can't." She never made eye contact while saying that, obviously ashamed. I was confused, "Ashley, did I ever say I wanted you to be perfect?" She looked up "No, I guess not." She said, putting a smile on her face. And now, as I'm sitting in my office, I think of what I was honestly missing when I lived in New York. The wild bar fights were crazy there, when one drunk business man went just about crazy on the bartender when his credit card had been shut off. Here, I wouldn't run into that. I looked at the clock, 5 o'clock, Time to go home. Tonight was my bachelor's party and tomorrow was my wedding.

XxX

The next day couldn't come fast enough. As I woke up, I saw a glimmer of sunlight through my window curtain. I groaned and got up lazily making my way to the bathroom, washing myself. At 2:00 we were all at the church and ready to act. I had been placed on the stairs and awaiting the arrival of my bride. Promptly at 2:20 the music played and her bridesmaids emerged. I stood on the tips of my toes, looking to see if I could find her. She made her walk torturously slow and I had to think about fire before my feet to keep from going and grabbing her arm to drag her along. She finally made it after I had to assume I would be dead before she made it up the aisle. We said our vows and exchanged rings, smiling like fools or little children getting a prize.

The reception consisted of congratulations, presents, dancing, and food. Ashley was very tired and we went on the Honeymoon early. When we returned back to Texas roughly 2 weeks later, we went back to a familiar place, the tree. Standing tall and thin, it swayed in the growing wind, looking rather gloomy. Ashley carved an engagement ring as well as a wedding band next to our initials in a heart in the tree's trunk. We stood back to look at the new images carved into the tree and stood like that hand-in-hand for a while. We only started making noise when it started pouring down rain and Ashley squealed. Already soaked we both ran to the house that Aunt Edna moved out of. And in that house is where Ashley and I made wonderful memories of children, and parties, and growing old together. Forever grateful of that tree that brought us together 25 years ago…

**A/N did you like it?**


	2. AN News

**Hey guys, and girls. Mostly girls I assume. I am a twilight freak. I am also a roleplay freak. If you don't know what that is, it really has nothing to do with sex (the kind im talking about) It's twilight roleplay! It's where you get a character and pretend to be them. ANYWAYS! I have put it on youtube and facebook but there's no response there :(. MAYBE THERE WILL BE HERE! I have a lot of spaces left, and all of them need filled before we start.**

**-Seth**

**-Peter**

**-Carlisle**

**-Esme**

**-Emmett**

**And more.**

**Claim your spot today (now) or you may not get the chance. TO CLAIM YOUR PART, INBOX ME!**


End file.
